RECENT NEWS

Junior doctors fear their training will suffer when European limits on working time are applied next year, two separate surveys by the BMA reveal. From 1 August 2009, the European Working Time Directive will restrict the time junior doctors can spend in hospital to 48 hours a week. The current limit is 56.

Cancer Research UK funded scientists have pinpointed an area of the genome containing one or more genes that can put smokers at even more risk of developing lung cancer.

Childhood obesity, infant mortality and keeping children safe in the home are three areas of research which will benefit from £42 million of Government funding.

Recent reports show that deficiencies in elderly healthcare remain. A national survey of 1,600 health service managers rated older people (along with those with mental health needs) as the “most neglected groups in the service, who had seen the least benefit from NHS reforms.”

US scientists claim to have developed a drug which may protect the body against damage from radiation.

Recent reports show that deficiencies in elderly healthcare remain. A national survey of 1,600 health service managers rated older people (along with those with mental health needs) as the “most neglected groups in the service, who had seen the least benefit from NHS reforms.”

Darent Valley Hospital, Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust, has been working to improve outcomes for patients undergoing major bowel surgery, through laparoscopic surgery and the Enhanced Recovery Programme (ERP), and has reduced recovery times by three weeks.

A national programme has been launched by the Department of Health to identify vulnerability to vascular diseases. Everyone between the ages of 40 and 74 will be entitled to the checks, which are expected to prevent up to 9,500 heart attacks and strokes every year.

Health Minister Lord Darzi has attended a meeting with patients with a variety of long-term conditions, following his promise to “create a vision for the future that is developed and owned by patients” together with staff and public.

Agfa HealthCare has been selected by Royal Brompton and Harefield Trust to provide PACS, RIS and Cardiology solutions to its entire Trust. The integrated IT solutions will enable a free flow of data between the hospitals, even though the systems will work entirely independently of each other.

Griffiths & Nielsen, the specialist laboratory and medical distributor has outgrown its premises of 30 years and is moving to new larger premises at Stane Street, Slinfold, Horsham, West Sussex.

The number of deaths from C. diff has soared in England and Wales, according to the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics.

A vascular surgeon at Lanarkshire Hospital has carried out the first endovascular iliac branch aneurysm repair operation in Scotland.

UNISON is calling on NHS employers to act on needlestick injuries (NSI) by making safer needles compulsory across the health service. The call comes in the wake of the death of the nurse, Juliet Young, who contracted HIV from a needlestick injury.

The University of Portsmouth is joining forces with brain tumour charity Brainstrust and other partners to create a centre of excellence for brain tumour research on the south coast.

From this month, six centres across the UK will enable selected people with Type 1 diabetes to live free from blackouts and hospital admissions associated with hypoglycaemia. The Department of Health has announced that it will invest up to £2.34 million in islet transplant services in the first year, increasing to a maximum of £7.32 m to meet the predicted annual need in the longer term.

To improve care pathways for cirrhotic patients, new national information and communication network structures need to be established, delegates at the recently-held British Society of Gastroenterology Annual Meeting were told.

The Government plans to instruct NICE to compare the cost-effectiveness of complementary therapies with other treatments, with the aim of ensuring PCTs are aware of the evidence where it is available, health minister Dawn Primarolo revealed.

Scientists at the University of Cambridge claim to have a made a potential breakthrough in the treatment of spinal injuries.

The College of Operating Department Practitioners is organising the conference: Every Patient Matters, 9-10 May, Fontwell Park Racecourse, Arundel.